David Cameron’s negative net approval rating of -28 (satisfied minus dissatisfied) is down eight points since April, while Nick Clegg’s net rating of -39 is also down by the same amount. Both are their worst ratings ever.

Reader comments

I like a bit of Cameron kicking as much as the next man, but that’s slightly misleading, Sunny. Brown did plumb lower depths and was less popular 24 months into his premiership – the fact Cameron is now less popular than Brown was in May 2010 doesn’t actually tell us an awful lot beyond “the electorate are in a bad mood” and, well, duh.

The thing that really strikes me about that graph is the popularity of Tony Blair. Wow.

1/Jonn: “Cameron slightly more popular than Thatcher was at the start of 18 consecutive years of Conservative government” would be another obvious headline, as would “no-one really likes Prime Ministers”

Blair had the advantage that he wasn’t John Major, had no credible opposition, a strong economy, and didn’t do anything particularly unpopular (except for a brief dip around the fuel crisis) in his first term. In the full graph (page 8 of http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/political_monitor_May2012_charts.PDF) his ratings are relentlessly negative and falling after that, ending in around Brown or Major levels

Yeah, as others have said, it’s not that useful. I’d like to gloat, but that graph also shows that Gordon Brown was, at some point, more popular than Thatcher and Blair.

What will matter is how popular Cameron will be by the time of the next election. Which is a shame because policies should trump personal popularities, but apparently we’re stuck with this godawful system. Our government risks turning into a load of daytime TV presenters at this rate. Ugh.

“Britain will probably resemble a banana republic, gated communities, fortress mansions, glittering skyscrapers etc in a sea of shanty town squalour. Paradise for tories like SMFS”

Oh no it won’t. A leading first-world country doesn’t turn into a complete shithole in three years, unless it’s invaded or has a civil war (and no, there won’t be one of those either). Britain in 2015 will be like Britain now, only with more people badly off, and a load of irritating Olympic crap cluttering up London.

I wonder how many people believe this sort of stuff, and whether you’re genuinely among them. There seems to be a category of person that constantly expects revolution or a swift fall into dystopia, based on their pet peeve with the status quo, and regardless of the lessons of history. I bet if I trawled HYS long enough I could find someone seriously predicting an uprising over fortnightly bin collections.